Quilts, Tacos & Tattoos

The Call

I could hear Mom talking to Bud on her cell phone as she approached the booth. "We've gotta get him!" She yelled into her phone. "I am not the only target. There are more of us, and he even tried something here at the quilt show!" She paused to listen. "Why didn't I think of that?" her voice faded as she walked away with a finger in her other ear.

She was furious!

Sitting in the booth beside Nana I asked, "What do we do?"

"Honey, we don't do anything," she said as she rubbed her eyebrow with her right hand. "We think. Then, we do."

I looked up and Mom was approaching the booth. She resumed her station at the cutting table.

Nana stated, "You don't look so good."

"How should I look? This makes me sick to my stomach. What the hell does that guy want? It feels so personal."

"Money! That's all it is," Nana replied with a sharp tone.

"Right. I got that Mama. But why target me?"

"You are taking this too personal, Honey. He is just a man who wants money to buy drugs probably, and make more money."

"Get real, Mama!"

"I am real. That is the root of all evil - drugs and money!"

"Mother, you have some customers behind you. We need to focus on why we are here. I am going to get a lemonade. I'll be back in a minute. We are going to forget all about this until 6:15. You got that? All of you," she stated loudly.

Everyone was nervous as the day went by slowly. We did not talk about it, but it hung over us like a dark cloud.

At six o'clock, we began the final closing of our booth. "I'm sleeping here," Mom said as we gathered around the table and waited for the other women.

"No you're not," Nana said as she dug under the cutting table in the hidden stash of good chocolate. She tossed one to everyone.

"If I am the target of a major drug ring," Mom continued as she rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I'm not leaving all these machines unattended here all night."

Nana shook her head, "You'll feel better after they arrive."

"Who arrive?" I asked.

"Bud, Pa and Poncho," Mom said softly. She walked toward a new customer.

Nana saw a security guard walk by, waved him over to the booth and explained the situation. As it turned out, security didn't let anyone stay in the exhibit halls overnight, but he said he'd keep an eye on our booth.

As we packed up to leave the exhibition hall that night, I clicked the power switches off and Mom flipped her attitude. I could tell she felt better knowing Bud, Pa and Poncho were all coming to Dallas. Mom tucked her arm under mine just like she had done at the beginning of the day when we walked to see our Best in Show Quilt. Remembering the inscription on the back of the quilt I thought, What a celebration of generations.